A New Beginning
by ouranandsuzakulover68
Summary: It's been 2 years since the Royal Pain fiasco and Warren and Layla are graduating and becoming heroes. But the superhero civil war threatens to pull them apart. Zach has gained new powers and must decide who to side with.Layla/Warren
1. Chapter 1

2 Years Later

Layla had qualified to be a hero, but stayed in Mr. Boy's class, although she skipped a grade.

It was graduation time for Warren and her. It was the day that they would pick out their names and sidekicks. A week ago, Warren accidentally fell in a vat of toxic waste while fighting Royal Pain again and gained the additional power of being able to manipulate electricity. He planned to leave and go to Empire City and learn how to control his electric powers from Cole McGrath, the only other known superhero with the same powers.

"Will you be okay with that place?"

"Of course."

"It doesn't really have any vegetation."

"I'll survive."

"Hey guys." Will and Zach walked up to them.

"Hi Will. Hi Zach." Layla said.

"Hey guys, check out this." Zach said. Everyone looked at his hand as it transformed into a huge blade, then to an abnormally large hand with claws, and back to a regular hand.

"How'd you learn to do that?"

"I fell into a vat of toxic waste."

"More like hid." Warren said.

"So, do you think you have a name for yourself?"

"Firestorm, I think."

"A little close to Firestar."

"I know, but I can't get a better one."

"How about you Layla?" Zach asked.

"I'm just going to go with Leafstorm to go along with Warren."

"I guess you guys will be working together then?"

"You know it."

"All seniors, report to the front of the school now."

"Let's get it over with."

1 Week Later

"Where are we going to put a base?"

"I don't know, maybe our house, like at Stronghold's."

"Yeah maybe."

Warren's cell phone rang and he saw from the caller ID that it was Cole.

"Hello?"

"Are you ready to start training?"

"I guess so."

"Meet me at Zeke's pad."

"All right."

Zeke's

"All right, just will the electricity out of your hands."

Warren shot a bolt of electricity at a mannequin. Suddenly, it dodged out of the way.

"Whoa, calm down." He said, walking over to Warren.

"Who are you?" Warren asked.

"I'm Mr. Fantastic, the leader of the Fantastic Four."

"I thought they were dead." Layla said.

"They are, I'm the only one left, but I want to create a new incarnation of the team."

"So, you want the three of us to join?" Cole asked.

"Precisely."

"All right, I'm in." Cole said.

"I've got nothing to lose." Warren told them.

"If Warren's going, then I'm going."

"Damn Cole, with you joining the Fantastic Four, a lot of money can be made." Zeke said with a plan already formulating in his mind.

"No Zeke, you're not going to make money off this."

"I figured that New York has enough heroes, so we could just stay in Empire City."

"We?" Cole asked Zeke.

"Fine, you."

"What about your headquarters?" Warren asked.

"I'll have it flown in from New York."

"Great, call me for the first team meeting."

Warren and the Fantastic Four kept Empire City safe for one year before Galactus arrived.

"How do we fight it?"

"I've got an idea, but it could kill Cole."

"What is it?"

"I created a black hole generator a few years back, but I never had enough power to get it working to the size where it could suck Galactus in."

"And you want me to power the generator with my electric powers."

"Right, Warren will need to do it too, but you're the one who might die because you can fire out more energy than he can, and you'll end up draining yourself which might kill you unless you can absorb more electricity in a short period of time."

"Give me an estimate."

"About 30 seconds."

"All right, the world means more than my personal safety."

"I'll get the generator." Mr. Fantastic ran as fast as he could and grabbed it.

"He's coming, we'd better use it now." Layla pointed at the shape that was slowly blocking out the Sun.

Cole and Warren both grabbed on to the generator and willed the electricity to go in.

"The power is at 1%." Reed said.

They both also grabbed on to a streetlight and forced more electricity in.

"2%"

Cole closed his eyes, and when opened them, he stuck his hand into the air and tried to absorb all of the electricity from Empire City. It all came at once in the form of a lightning bolt. It struck him and all of the power went to the generator.

"100%!" The machine came to life and created a black hole over the United States. Galactus could not stop himself from being sucked in and he flew in just before it closed.

"We did it!" Mr. Fantastic yelled, but suddenly, he stopped and fell to his knees.

"What's wrong?" Warren asked.

An ambulance was nearby and picked him up. Meanwhile, Warren was holding on to an unconscious Cole who still had smoke coming off his body and whose clothes were singed, but not burned off thanks to Warren. Warren was forcing electricity through Cole to keep him alive.

"Will he be okay?"

"Yeah, but he was knocked out by the overload of electricity when the lightning bolt hit him."

Hospital

"Mr. Fantastic suffered a heart attack after the battle and is in intensive care, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make it." The doctor said.

"This is an important news flash!" A TV said, "The Superhuman Registration Act has been put into effect. If you are a super powered human, you are required to show the world your secret identity and register with the government. This is required, or else you are in violation of the law and you will be found by the registered heroes and put in prison."

"I'm safe." Cole said.

"I guess we should register too." Layla said.

"I won't." Warren said, "Why should we register? Heroes have rights too. And that includes having a secret identity."

"I guess we'll be enemies then."

"I guess so."

Warren and Layla stormed off in opposite directions, leaving Cole to decide which side to join by himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Zach didn't want to admit it, but he was scared. He was scared of one of his best friends. And not just anyone, but Will Stronghold. Although he liked to be called Fracture these days. Will was on a murderous rampage, and only Zach could stop him. It was night and Zach was an easy target. Will grabbed a nearby car.

"Don't do this, a lot of innocent people could be hurt."

"Like I care." Will threw the car at Zach, who dodged it. The car exploded and caught several people in the explosion. Will then grabbed a streetlight and swung it at Zach. It caught several people and sent them flying. Zach felt waves of pain when it collided with him. Zach quickly got up and ran over to stop Will.

"Calm down man." Zach said as he dodged another super powered punch.

"Why should I? You were one of them. One of the ones who betrayed me!" Zack jumped over Will and turned his hand into a shield of sorts. "You left me to die! But now I can finally get my revenge on you. I'll pay you back for leaving my parents and me to die in that metal factory. They lost their lives, and you expected me to die too, but I lived and now I'll kill all of you." Will said in his twisted voice.

Will punched Zach into the air and flew up, grabbing him by the neck. Zach felt his throat being crushed by Will's grip and struggled to get loose. Will dropped him on top of a skyscraper and landed with a thud. He strode over to Zach and put his hand around his neck again and squeezed.

"I'll make you beg for me to forgive you, just like Ethan and Magenta did before I killed them."

"You killed Magenta?" Zach's hand changed into a claw and he threw Will off of him. Rain started to fall all around them and droplets of blood fell from Will's jaw. Will tried to punch Zach again, but Zach grabbed his outstretched arm and punched Will's arm as hard as he could, hearing a sickening crack.

"Ahh!" Will screamed out in pain as Zach broke his arm. He looked up to see Zach's hand turn into a blade and force itself into his mouth. Zach winced as he felt blood flowing down from Will's mouth and onto his arm. He quickly calmed down and shoved the blade deeper into his mouth, until it appeared at the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, but you gave me no choice." Zach said, allowing a few tears to fall. He pulled his arm out and changed it back into a regular hand. He lifted his hand up into the rain to let it clean off the blood from Will. He looked down at the still body of his friend and fell to both knees. He cupped his face in his hands and let the tears flow freely for the first time in months.

His face showed no emotions when he stopped crying and looked down at the city and the carnage that Will had created. There were people crying for their loved ones, there were overturned cars and fires that were being put out. Zach knew that he was partly to blame for all this and wasn't sure if he should go down or not.

When the people from down below saw him, they cheered and clapped for him.

"I don't deserve their praise." Zach muttered.

**But isn't that why you became a hero?** A voice in the back of his head nagged.

"I don't want it anymore, not after this."

Zach jumped down to the street and was instantly mobbed by grateful people, who thanked him for stopping Fracture. He saw a news reporter nearby and listened in.

"And so, the path of destruction has finally ended with a death toll of at least 57 dead, and close to 200 wounded. Once again, Fracture, the son of Commander and Jetstream, has finally been stopped and killed by Lightblade."

Zach buried his face in his right hand after he heard the death toll.

"So many died because I couldn't bring myself to kill Will earlier. But I'll never make the same mistake again."

Zach walked towards his home, haunted by guilt. People still came up to him and thanked him as he walked home, but he didn't see them. He could only see the faces of those that he couldn't save, with looks of fear and horror forever plastered on their faces. He knew that New York was used to stuff like this, but he still felt like he was a killer.

He entered his apartment and peeled off his costume. It was based off the X Men costumes he had seen them fight in, except that it was white (and dots of red) and the X was replaced by a L. He grabbed a new one to begin his night patrol.

He stood on the balcony before jumping to the next building and climbing to the roof. Zach just stood on the roof and let the rain pour down on him before he ran off to investigate a lead he had.

He soon reached a small abandoned warehouse and looked in. He couldn't activate his glowing powers for fear of being discovered. He saw what seemed to have been a machine, but now it was completely destroyed and there were henchmen on the ground.

Zach jumped in and looked at the men. Their eyes were still open and a look of horror was on their face.

"What happened here?"

Suddenly, three creatures with large teeth, claws and hair all over their bodies attacked. They bore a striking resemblance to the three men. They all attacked and Zach dodged their attacks while striking at them with his blade arm. The creatures had amazing durability as they were still able to attack with a huge gash in their chest. One of them knocked him to the floor and was about to slice his neck off when laser beams came out of his eyes. They shot the creature up into the air and through the ceiling. He then gazed at the other two and knocked them out.

Across the country, in a mansion, a man in a wheelchair sensed Zach's powers.

"Scott, get your extra pair of sunglasses."

"Sure thing professor."

Back in New York, Zach closed his eyes so no more beams would come out.

"How did this happen?"

He heard a loud noise, like a jet was landing.

**Oh great, SHEILD's getting involved.**

"I think he's in here." He heard a voice say.

"I see someone glowing."

**Oh crap, they see me. Damn my powers.**

He heard footsteps and suddenly, they stopped.

"Keep your eyes closed, we've just got to put these on, okay, you can open your eyes."

"Sunglasses?"

"They'll keep your powers under control."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops."

"From the X Men?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"My powers are the same as yours?"

"I believe so, although you do have additional powers."

"I know, I used them to kill Fracture."

"You know, you should join the X Men to learn how to control your power."

"But I can't, I have to protect New York, and I don't think I'm a mutant, I don't know where these powers came from."

"I think your mind repressed these powers until you were truly in danger."

"That's crazy."

"So is transforming your hand into a blade."

"Touché. But still, can't you just make my mind repress these powers again? I don't think I need three powers."

"I can't, but Professor X can."

"I see." Was all Professor X said when Zach talked to him.

Zach felt a tingle and asked, "Is that it?"

"That's it."

"Great."

Zach left the warehouse and returned to his apartment. He made a mental note to do the laundry tomorrow or else he would run out of costumes. He climbed into bed after taking a shower and was about to fall asleep when he heard his phone ring. He sat up and reached for his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's Warren, we need to talk."


End file.
